Is a Twitter account under the name of Erica Marsh run by someone with that name who identifies themself as a "Proud Democrat: Former Field Organizer to elect President Biden. Volunteer for the Obama Foundation"? No, that's not true: There's no evidence to suggest that an Erica Marsh ever worked for the Biden for President campaign or Democratic National Committee. The account's profile picture also raises questions.
The claim appears in an account on Twitter (archived here) created in September 2022 under the name of Erica Marsh. The account's profile reads:
Proud Democrat: Former Field Organizer to elect President Biden. Volunteer for the Obama Foundation. (She/Her) 💙
Media & News Washington D.C. Joined September 2022
This is what the post looked like on Twitter at the time of the writing of this fact check:
(Source: Twitter screenshot taken on Fri Jun 30 17:26:38 2023 UTC)
The popular Twitter account racked up millions of views in late June 2023 with its regular social media posts espousing liberal causes. The popularity was followed by claims the account was fake.
Among those believing so was criminal defense attorney Ron Filipkowski, who also monitors extremists and conspiracy theorists. In a post to Twitter on June 29, 2023, he said the account is being "used to post outrageous things that right-wingers can repost and say, 'This is what progressives believe.'" The complete post appears below:
(Source: Twitter screenshot taken on Fri Jun 30 21:31:50 2023 UTC)
Also sharing this view was Leah McElrath, a writer and human rights activist. She said this in another June 29, 2023, post to Twitter:
(Source: Twitter screenshot taken on Fri Jun 30 21:42:00 2023 UTC)
Biden for President campaign
While the profile for the Erica Marsh account claims she was a "Former Field Organizer to elect President Biden," the Biden for President campaign says otherwise. In a June 30, 2023, email to Lead Stories, a Biden campaign representative told Lead Stories that it has no internal records of someone named Erica Marsh working for either the campaign or the Democratic National Committee (DNC).
Democratic National Committee
Daniel Wessel, deputy communications director for the DNC, echoed those findings. "We have no record of her," he said in another June 30, 2023, email to Lead Stories.
Federal Elections Commission
The Federal Elections Commission (FEC) also confirmed the information. In a June 30, 2023, email, Christian Hilland, a deputy press officer with the FEC, told Lead Stories:
A disbursement search of Biden for President and the DNC committees did not yield any results for an 'Erica Marsh' payee.
A field organizer in a presidential campaign, as the profile for Erica Marsh claims she was, would be a paid position and would have been a part of FEC records if someone by that name had worked for the Biden campaign or the DNC.
The account's profile also claimed that Erica Marsh was a "Volunteer for the Obama Foundation." Lead Stories contacted the former president's foundation but had not received a response at the time of writing. If one is provided, it will be added to this fact check.
Erica Marsh
Additionally, Lead Stories direct messaged the Erica Marsh Twitter account in an attempt to confirm the identity of the person behind it. The DM appears below:
(Source: Twitter screenshot taken on Fri Jun 30 22:30:53 2023 UTC)
If the holder of the Erica Marsh account provides a response. Lead Stories will add it to our coverage.
